Regent of Jade

A Twist on Jade Regent by Paizo

Summary of Session 6

The party had arrived in Sandpoint in the evening. They had a reunion with Grigori, who had gone back to being one of Maia Shirayuki’s employees at the Rusty Dragon. The party turned in for the night, most of them going to the Rusty Dragon, but Guillaume specifically went to the White Deer inn instead, not wanting to spend any more time with Maia and her jabs at him.

Everyone had baths drawn, washing off the lingering smell of the swamp. However, in the morning Rehoofa was ill, having contracted Filth Fever from his exposure to the rats. He hesitantly accepted the help of Meckrin, who proceeded to put him through several painful and humiliating treatments (including being dunked in a horse trough and spanked with a wooden board), which supposedly would drive out the “bad luck”. To the surprise of everyone, Rehoofa woke the next morning to find his fever had broken and the sickness was cured.

The party spent the next few days unloading loot from the swamp and spending the proceeds. Through some luck and the charms of Elsa, the party found a nobleman, Titus Scarnetti, who was interested in the Gorge of Gluttons. Deciding to gamble, the party spent 600 gp to repair the Gorge, finding that doing so more than doubled its value.

The party investigated the note they’d found in the skeletal warrior’s sword, which mentioned the town of Brinewall to the north. Arach explained that Brinewall has a dark history, all of its inhabitants vanishing suddenly one day about 30 years ago (a matter of days after the letter was written, to be exact). It is now seen as a cursed city, avoided by most travelers, and the few that have gone to investigate have not returned. The party asked Maia about the note, since it was signed by Rokuro Kaijitsu, the grandfather of Ameiko Kaijitsu, who had owned the Rusty Dragon before Maia. Maia was unhelpful, however: she became very angry that the party wanted her to fill in for Ameiko. She has apparently grown sick of travelers coming to her looking for the nigh-legendary Ameiko, and seeing her as a second-best alternative.

Despite her reaction, Maia still obliquely invited the party to her wine cellar: she told them to talk to Arach, who would understand that this was an invitation for them to accompany him that evening. Arach and Maia had made plans to test the wines he had just delivered to her, and the party helped test. As more wine was drunk and everyone began to loosen up, Elsa stepped outside to check on the kittens she’d bought for Arach. Out there she met Kaellara, who was apparently snooping on the caravan, though the elf politely refused to come into the inn.

While Elsa was outside, Maia approached Guillaume, asking for more explanation of how he’d found the note. She seemed kinder, explaining that the curved short swords were called wakizashi, and often wielded alongside the longer katana. She also asked to see the note again. When Elsa came back in and joked that a woman had come to see Guillaume, Guillaume tried (unsuccessfully) to get a name, but ultimately made his way outside. Maia followed upon hearing that it was Kaellara.

Outside was an altercation: Guillaume met Kaellara briefly, who showed an interest in the masterwork wakizashi of the skeletal warrior. However, further interaction was interrupted as Maia came outside and angrily snapped at Kaellara that she was not welcome, how dare she come here, etc. Kaellara, saddened, left without protest.

The party was invited to join Arach’s caravan for a new business venture: Arach had a new business partner in Maia, who wanted to investigate Brinewall and the mention of enemies of the Kaijitsu family. Maia worries that she is in danger from the enemies of Ameiko, who might come to Sandpoint just as her admirers do. The party agreed to accompany Arach on this next adventure. Using the 2000 gp that Maia put up for capital, the party bought 5 wagons and enough supplies and employees to prepare the caravan for the journey to Brinewall, which is over 500 miles away.

When the caravan was leaving town, whatever history Kaellara and Maia had came up again: Kaellara approached the caravan, offering her services for free, and Maia was angry for the offer. Guillaume successfully got Maia to back off, though this did earn him a furious look from her. The party tried to ask Arach about what was going on with Kaellara and Maia, but Arach answered that he didn’t know the whole story, and even if he did, it wasn’t his story to tell.

Just outside of Sandpoint, the party encountered a last remnant of the Licktoad tribe: Chief Gutwad himself, with a handful of firework-equipped goblins. The party fought and slew him, though their horses (including Acimon, Guillaume’s horse) were gravely injured by Gutwad’s arrows. The caravan was also damaged by the goblin raiders that attacked it alongside Gutwad, but the party decided to wait to fix it until later. After 4 days of travel, the caravan reached the first stop on their path to Brinewall: a small town named Galduria.

So far all is well, but the caravan is only 4 days into its journey to the north, which Arach estimates will take nearly 2 more weeks on the road.

Summary of Session 5

Marcel’s diplomatic skills let him successfully talk down the group of goblins hiding in the ship. The new goblin shaman, standing up at the ship’s prow, explained that skeletons had attacked the Licktoad village. The skeletons had killed many goblins but had left when Chief Gutwad threw the Licktoads’ treasure to them. It seems the skeletons rose from the dead so they could turn to banditry.

The party backtracked to Megus’ house, where the silent elf, Kaellara, was waiting for them. She passed them a note from Grigori, explaining that he had become scared of waiting alone in the swamp and had gone back to Sandpoint. The party recovered Guillaume’s horse and set off for the dangerous cave on Megus’ map. Passing into the cave (having some brief trouble with poisonous nettles), the party explored it, finding a spider and a pair of stirges who served as dangerous distractions, draining Guillaume’s strength and vitality.

In the heart of the cave, the party found skeletons lying dormant on the ground. When Guillaume crushed one, the others rose and attacked. The party was penned into a tight space, but ultimately won, with Rehoofa tumbling around and crushing the skeletons while Elsa and Guillaume weathered the blows. Afterwards the party continued on, finding a small chamber where a final opponent waited: a lone skeleton sitting on a chest. This skeleton stood up and drew a vicious curved blade. It proved to be far stronger and more vicious than the other undead, and nearly killed the whole party.

The party was not alone, though. The exiled goblin Meckrin (“Scribbleface”) was trapped in the back of the cavern, unable to leave with the skeletons in the cave. Seeing the party doing battle with this last skeletal warrior, he finally revealed himself. His channeled energy healed the party, and he let the party know that healing energies can harm the undead. The skeleton finally fell when Elsa tapped it with the healy wand to finish it off. The party promptly set about looting, finding many items of value in the chest. Guillaume suffered a brief overwhelming burst of rage as he touched the skeletal warrior’s severed arm, but in so doing unraveled the last of the dark energies in the cave. In a way it was like putting out a flame with his bare hand.

The party also made introductions. Meckrin Rotfoot, the exiled shaman of the Licktoad tribe, was rather grateful for the save, but his abrasive goblin nature kept him from becoming quick friends with the party. He had little love for dwarves such as Rehoofa, and the horse-riding Guillaume was frightening to him. He also had a suddenly aversion to Marcel, whom he said “smells like a dog.” He did, however, show an interest in Elsa, and was all too eager to tell her of his goddess Calistra, the goddess of vengeance and lust.

The party headed back to Sandpoint, Meckrin explaining that Megus had been investigating a treasure but had gotten sidetracked by her studies on changing creatures’ natures, until her studies had ultimately caused her to leave the swamp. Meckrin had taken over the research (using Megus’ glasses to protect his mind from the danger of written words), but when the Licktoad goblins had taken the treasures of the cave, the skeletons had risen up to get it back. While Meckrin was explaining this, the party was ambushed by several goblin warriors sent by “chief” to kill the humans who’d come to the Licktoad village.

The party fought off the goblins and made it to town safely, but they were still confused by what great treasure Meckrin and Megus had been investigating. All they knew was that the boats had been carrying something important enough to make the dead walk when it was stolen. The answer came when they met up with Arach. After listening ot their story, he found a secret compartment in the skeletal warrior’s sword. It held an old note from Rokuro Kaijitsu, the grandfather of Ameiko Kaijitsu. The note made reference to Brinewall, a city hundreds of miles to the north which had been destroyed by some mysterious force around the same time the boats had crashed.

It seems the party have stumbled upon something much bigger than a skeletal raiding party or a single lost goblin.

Summary of Session 4

The party was set up at the house of Old Megus, the swamp witch. They debated resting for the day and getting a head start on things tomorrow, but since everyone was in good physical condition thanks to the wand of Cure Light Wounds, they decided to keep on exploring for a bit more.

The notes from Megus suggested there was something interesting in a pair of ships that were in the swamp, referred to as the Blossom and the Star. Megus seemed more curious in the shapeshifting creature she found, and how it might have been connected to the passengers or the cargo of those ships. The details, however, were missing. Since one of the ships was close to Megus’ home, the party set off to investigate in a small rowboat that they found behind Megus’ house. They left behind Grigori and Guillaume’s horse as a sort of camp guard.

After a brief boat ride and a not-so-brief slog through the marsh, the party reached the wreckage of the first ship. Whatever happened to it, it happened years and years ago, since the shipwreck had rotted down to bare ribs of the ship. The party’s investigation revealed that this ship was called the Kaijitsu’s Blossom, as written in the Tien language on a rusted nameplate. But no sooner had the party discovered this than they were attacked by skeletons! Bursting out of the ship’s wreckage and the mud under their feet, the undead attacked with rusted swords. They proved resilient, taking direct hits from arrows and swords without slowing down. Rehoofa’s kick shattered one, and Guillaume managed to hack the other two to pieces.

The party recovered the skeletons’ swords, which were odd things roughly the size of short swords, but with curved blades built for slashing instead of stabbing. The skeletons’ rusted-out armor was also clearly not of Varisian make. The only other clue was a set of goblin-sized footprints the party followed for a ways, leading in the direction of the “too dangerous to investigate” area marked on Megus’ map. Not wishing to run in unprepared, the party fell back to Megus’ home to rest, though they were attacked by fire beetles during the night. The beetles severely hurt Rehoofa before he could wake up, but were quickly driven off.

In the interests of completionism, the next morning the party rowed their little boat over to the other shipwreck, to find it was in much better shape than the other one, but this one was occupied by goblins, possibly refugees from the Licktoad goblin village. The party ran into a trio of goblin guards who attacked in a blind panic, one of them using a firework that hit Guillaume a few times, angering him more than hurting him. With a mix of diplomacy and nonlethal attacks, the party ultimately beat up the goblins, leaving them unconscious but alive, while one of the guards scampered onto the ship.

The party was left standing just outside of this goblin ship, hearing the panicked cries of other goblins onboard, and is deciding what to do. So far, no one has used any spells, though the healing wand is being used quite a bit.

Summary of Session 3

The party said their goodbyes to Arach, who was preparing his caravan to head up to Sandpoint. He asked if the party would be interested in investigating the Licktoad village to see if anything was left. The party was not interested, at least until such time as the Licktoad village became important to finding Scribbleface. So, led by Yikyik, the party moved along the southern edge of the swamp for about a mile, reaching the entrance to the Witch’s Walk, which would supposedly lead them to the home of Old Megus, the swamp witch.

Yikyik said he was not going any further than the entrance to the path. He knew that Old Megus was an unpleasant person, and even if the goblins had successfully “driven her out” as they claimed, there was still clearly something nefarious at work: no goblin that’s gone near the shack has returned, and on top of that, now the dead bodies buried in the Brinestump Marsh are getting up and moving around on their own.

The party moved down the path, finding that it had not been traveled for some months. About halfway down it, they found that some creatures of approximately human size had recently gone across the path: the whatever-they-were cut a straight path through the swamp, going from southwest to the east and then back again, and happened to cut across the path as they did so. Though this was suspicious, the party decided not to follow.

At the end of the path, the party encountered the home of Old Megus: a dilapidated shack and storage shed, both well on their way to being reclaimed by the swamp, and sporting relatively recent scorch marks, likely from goblin firework “weapons.” Grigori also found a cleared-out lot and a pathway leading down to the water around back. Investigating the buildings, the party found this was a nest of many rats: giant rats in the storage shed that nearly killed Rehoofa, and a creepy half-rat-half-man (identified as a ratling) in the main house, which summoned a swarm of rats and used hit-and-run tactics on the party.

The ratling was clearly intelligent, and fiercely territorial: it screamed at the party to get out of “its” house, saying that the witch had left long ago with some kind of fairy, and that “the goblin” was surely rotting in a ditch somewhere. Though the creature was quick and able to cast spells (sending Guillaume riding off in magically-induced terror), the party ultimately triumphed, Elsa dealing the final blow by ramming her sharp fingernails through the floor and spearing through its body.

As the party fought the rats, the house was damaged severely, the floor crumbling under their feet and the ceiling starting to collapse. Their explorations of the house afterwards did nothing to help things, either. As they pried open a secret compartment in the witch’s laboratory, they pushed the old house too far: the whole thing began to collapse. Fortunately, on their way out Rehoofa was able to grab a metal cylinder that had been hidden in the laboratory. This turned out to be the witch’s stash of treasure, including some gold pieces, a masterwork dagger in a detailed sheath, several papers, and a few scrolls the PC’s will identify tomorrow when someone takes Read Magic.

The papers included notes on a few ships in the swamp and some mystery that was being investigated; the childlike writing hinted it might not have been Megus who wrote them. The party has not yet taken the time to read through the notes in detail to determine exactly what they say.

Among the papers recovered from Megus’ home, the PCs also discovered a detailed map of Brinestump Marsh, showing the locations of the various trails, the Licktoad village, the warden’s shack, the ships mentioned in the papers, and a skull-and-crossbones symbol with the note “too dangerous to investigate further.”

At last check, it was about noon, and the party was considering resting and recovering their strength. The party has concluded that the ruin of Megus’ home is a safe place to make camp, since everything else in the swamp is giving it a wide berth.

Summary of Session 2

Guillaume, Elsa, and Rehoofa emerged from the swamp in time to meet two newcomers, Marcel and Grigori, who had come to the caravan to see if Arach had any odd jobs for them. Arach at first was not sure he had anything. However, then a group of goblins came from the swamp, and a very pompous goblin accosted Guillaume directly, saying that Chief Gutwad did not appreciate them poking around Scribbleface’s whereabouts, especially in their village. Guillaume responded in a less than diplomatic way, but the goblins let him off saying that the Chief, in his mercy, is allowing them this one chance to leave “their” swamp.

Arach, seeing this exchange, thought that perhaps they could use someone with a better talent for words, and told Marcel he could accompany the group, and might as well take Grigori along as well. He doesn’t believe in breaking up lovers, after all. He seemed to be mostly joking about that part, but he was not joking about the reward: he will pay the party 500 gold pieces if they can find what Meckrin was up to, and 1000 gold pieces if he’s brought back alive.

The party rode/walked the long way around the swamp, using the Old Coast Road which let them move at their slow, plodding speed of Rehoofa the dwarf. En route they encountered Maia Shirayuki on her way to visit Arach, and had a mixed response. Maia took several jabs at Guillaume, which were unappreciated. She was, however, quite amused by Rehoofa, the dwarf who wanted to outdo an elf in archery.

The group made its way past the Old Fish Trail, which Grigori identified as another path to the goblin village, and finally around to the New Fish Trail, which would lead them through the northern part of the swamp to the shack of the warden, Yikyik. They arrived at the shack without much trouble beyond a brief encounter with a few giant maggots, one of which vomited its guts all over Guillaume. At the shack they encountered two traps: one, a simple alarm to announce their presence, and two, a net trap that had clearly been built to snare a small creature. Guillaume had the unfortunate luck of stepping in this trap, ending up stuck in a net for a critical few seconds as a twisted monster jumped off the shack and attacked them.

The monster was vicious, but it was still one against five. A few arrows from Marcel, some stabs from Guillaume, and a fingernail-swipe from Elsa put it in its place. After its death, the creature (a Sinspawn of Wrath, as identified by Grigori) mostly dissolved into ectoplasmic goo, leaving nothing but a human skeleton behind.

The party found that poor Yikyik had fallen into his own pit trap and skewered his leg. What followed was a comedy of errors in which Guillaume pulled the kobold off of the spike (much to his pain) and Marcel got stabbed in the foot while trying to gracefully leap into the pit. The party, realizing that no one had rope to pull the lot of them out, harvested the net trap and pulled the now-unconscious Yikyik out, where Elsa healed him.

After healing their wounds (and egos), the party retired to Yikyik’s shack, which while dilapidated on the outside was quite well cared-for on the inside. He made them some food of questionable quality and explained that he had seen Meckrin/Scribbleface just a few days ago. The goblin shaman had saved him from an attack by a blood-sucking creature called the Soggy River Monster, something Yikyik believes might have been a creation or an ally of the swamp witch, Old Megus. Seeking to repay his debt to Meckrin, Yikyik offered to lead the group to the Witch’s Walk the next day, since he confirmed that Meckrin had spent a great deal of time with the witch. He also warned the party that old Megus had not been a pleasant person, and had done things like keep a pet that looked like a man she’d mostly changed into a rat.

The party rested overnight, waking briefly to see a tremendous display of fireworks coming from the southern edge of the swamp, in the general area of the goblin village. The party decided to stay where they were and set out the next morning, though they were worried about what would have the goblins firing off so many of their powerful “weapons”.

In the morning the party set off back the way they’d come, going off the trail for a little bit to investigate a supposedly abandoned lair of the Soggy River Monster, where they found a dead, blood-drained bandit, and a foul-smelling hut full of mud-packed skulls. Rehoofa went into the hut to investigate, and was left sick to his stomach for the next hour.

The party went back onto the swamp trail, where they encountered a wounded goblin named Mogmurch, who claimed the goblin village had come under attack by some terrible creature. He said that Chief Gutwad would appreciate it if the party would slay the beast, since he knew they hadn’t been the ones to send it. Mogmurch also said that he was wounded and might be better off going back to the warden’s shack with Yikyik while the party investigated the village. It was at this time that Marcel became suspicious: Mogmurch’s wounds didn’t look like they’d been caused by a creature, and his flesh rippled like water. In reaction, the “goblin” sucker-punched Marcel, knocking him unconscious, and shape-shifted into a pale-skinned, faceless thing with a hollow, blood-sucking tongue: the Soggy River Monster.

Though it was a more difficult fight than they’d faced so far, the party ultimately triumphed, through the use of many arrows and a Grease spell that tripped up the monster. The climax came in a remarkable display of agility from Rehoofa, who flipped over the Grease and finished the thing off before it could get away. The thankful Yikyik gave the party his almost-full wand of Cure Light Wounds in appreciation.

Rehoofa had managed to recover from his sickness by this point, though he may have nightmares for some time about the smell. The party kicked through the remains of the Soggy River Monster, finding the skull-mask and glass-less spectacles it was wearing in its disguise. Not seeing any value in these, the party left them by the wayside with the Monster’s corpse.

Getting back around to the caravan, the party found that there had indeed been an attack last night, but it had not been a creature at all. It had been an attack by the undead! Arach and his drivers had had to destroy a few animated skeletons, and were worried about what condition the goblins must be in. Arach was also dismayed at how much of the goblins’ “merchandise” must have been consumed in that fight, and felt that there was no longer any reason for him to stay. Wishing the party the best, he said he was going to head off to Sandpoint, where it would hopefully be safer and more profitable for his caravan.

The party, choosing to leave the goblins to whatever fate has befallen them, was about to set off for the Witch’s Walk. It was time to see what Old Megus was up to before she was driven out, and what, if anything, her supposedly cursed home can reveal about Meckrin’s whereabouts.

Summary of Session 1

A group of fresh adventurers is on the trail of the exiled goblin Scribbleface (formerly known as Meckrin Rotfoot, now cast into the swamp for becoming literate, a vile crime in goblin society). The adventurers are Elsa, Guillaume, and Rehoofa.

Their adventure started in Brinestump Marsh, a few miles outside the village of Sandpoint. Guillaume and Elsa rode in on the Varisian caravan of the half-orc Arach Ivanovich, where they met Rehoofa just outside the goblin village in the Brinestump Marsh. Arach and Rehoofa had both come there to trade with the goblins, who had recently come across a stash of fireworks, which they see as mighty weapons. More importantly, Arach had come to the swamp, off his normal travel route, on the promise of a lead on the next big deal from Meckrin. Finding that Meckrin (turned Scribbleface) is exiled, Arach now stands to be out a fair sum of money if this deal falls through. Suddenly desperate to save his business, Arach offered Guillaume, Elsa, and Rehoofa a reward if they can bring back knowledge of what Scribbleface knew, and will double the reward if they can find Scribbleface and bring him back alive.

The group of hopeful heroes went to the goblin village. The goblins’ leader, a corpulent goblin named Chief Gutwad, was deeply suspicious of humans and dwarves, and this group of outsiders asking about the exiled Scribbleface was not making them any friends. The party left before they could be thrown out, but only just barely.

Having asked around the goblin village, the group has several leads to look into:

-The kobold Yikyik, self-appointed warden of Brinestump Marsh, who lives in a shack to the north. Though known as being a little strange in the head, he probably knows the swamp well enough to give some directions.

-The witch to the west, who Scribbleface spent a fair amount of time with in the days leading up to his exile. According to the goblins the witch has since been driven out of the swamp with their new weapons (fireworks), but has left a curse that kills anyone who goes back there. There may be some clues in her home, but only if the party can find it…and survive whatever this ‘curse’ is.

-The ship to the north of the goblin village, previously the home of the goblinc cannibal Vorka, recently killed by goblin champions. The goblins said there were wards against Scribbleface there. It’s possible there is something still on the ship that the goblins haven’t burned.

After conferring on their options, the party decided to go see the kobold warden, as they have directions to his place and he may be able to give more specific directions to the other locations. They will need to worry about the monsters of the swamp, such as the Soggy River Monster, which some goblins believe is the witch transformed into some beast.

A blog for your campaign

While the wiki is great for organizing your campaign world, it’s not the best way to chronicle your adventures. For that purpose, you need a blog!

The Adventure Log will allow you to chronologically order the happenings of your campaign. It serves as the record of what has passed. After each gaming session, come to the Adventure Log and write up what happened. In time, it will grow into a great story!

Best of all, each Adventure Log post is also a wiki page! You can link back and forth with your wiki, characters, and so forth as you wish.

One final tip: Before you jump in and try to write up the entire history for your campaign, take a deep breath. Rather than spending days writing and getting exhausted, I would suggest writing a quick “Story So Far” with only a summary. Then, get back to gaming! Grow your Adventure Log over time, rather than all at once.